Lessons Learned
by Fayre and Alathea Aiden
Summary: A seminar at a high school brings more trouble than it’s worth. Will the team be able to work it out with the help of two teenage fanatics?
1. Setting the Stage

**CSI: Lessons Learned**

**Disclaimer:** We do not own CSI: or anything associated with it. Unfortunately, those belong to CBS and Atlantis. If we really did own CSI, trust us, you'd know.

**Summary:** A seminar at a high school brings more trouble than it's worth. Will the team be able to work it out with the help of two teenage fanatics?

**A/N:** This story is based on real events and real people from our past. Please forgive any injustice done to their characters; it is meant only to enhance the plot of the story. The views represented in this story are not necessarily the views held by the authors themselves.

**Dedication:** This story is dedicated to the many teachers and students of Satellite High School that have changed our lives, but more importantly, to those who never saw graduation with the rest of us. Will and Allie, this one's for you.

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**Chapter 1: Setting the Stage**

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"I've set up a Special Interest Seminar for this Friday," Mr. Funk told his AP World History class. The teens looked up from their essay exams, knowing that a Funk seminar was one of the best ways to get out of a few classes. "It's on different branches of study under forensics," he continued.

Thirty minutes later the bell rang signaling the end of class. The class finished their last few sentences and turned in their exams, thankful for an excuse to flee out into the beautiful Florida sunshine.

"Kati, Terri, hold on a minute." The girls both stopped. Mr. Funk knew that these girls would be especially interested in going to the seminar. He also wanted to know if they had anything to do with the cross-dressing plastic flamingo herds outside his portable.

"Look girls," he grinned, seeing their wide-eyed stares, "I mostly set this thing up for you. So I have gotten the day off for the both of you. You guys get to be the guests, gophers, and tour guides." He watched as smiles lit both of the girl's faces, he could tell they were excited. "I want you guys to meet me in my portable tomorrow at 7:30. Also, dress nice. I told the group coming that some of my best students would be their tour guides tomorrow. I want them to be impressed."

As the girls left, Funk smiled to himself, chuckling at the interesting day his friend and his colleagues were sure to have tomorrow. Suddenly Kati popped her head into the room.

"Funk, I just wanted to thank you for this chance to view this stuff up close," she said, causing Funk to smile. "Because _nobody_ gets to see flamingoes this up close!" she called over her shoulder as she ran.

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The next morning the girls showed up promptly at 7:30, finding a note on the corner of Funk's desk telling them to help themselves to some breakfast. Terri had decided to wear a nice linen pant and pink blouse for the day. Since the heat was up again, she had her hair up in a ponytail. Kati, however, had opted for a knee-length black skirt with a slit in the side, with a cranberry blouse and black vest. Her hair was down and it's chocolate corkscrews reached the middle of her back. The girls looked about the same, both were relatively short and had brown hair and amber-hazel eyes. Terri had paler skin, almost a baby pink, while Kati had more olive tones.

The girls were in the middle of fighting over an apple and spice donut when a group of people started to walk in. As Mr. Funk came in and started to give introductions, he noticed Kati looking at him expectantly. He just smirked and pulled a dollar from his pocket and handed it to her, the group stared on slightly confused as she hugged the man and ran out the door.

"Sorry folks… Kati can't function without Diet Pepsi in her system," Funk explained while Terri just laughed at her friend's antics. Once she had returned, a man who looked like the head of the visiting group broke the awkward silence first.

"I am Dr. Gil Grissom," said the man. Both of the girl's eyes grew wide and Kati took a large gulp of her Diet Pepsi. Terri and Kati looked back and forth at each other, Funk just sniggered.

"As in the entomological genius?" Kati ventured,

"With the fetal pig?" Terri continued.

Both looked at the group with shy eyes.

"I can see Tom has been talking about me again," he stated as his team began to take an interest in the girls before them. Kati and Terri shared a mischievous smirk and began to converse in sign language, much to everyone's surprise. All except Funk, that is. He was used to the two girls going back and forth, fingers flying like hummingbird wings.

After a moment of watching, Grissom joined in the conversation.

/ _I'm glad that you find us so interesting, girls. It's not often that we run into such interested and entertaining students such as yourselves._ /

Suddenly, both girls stopped their signing and blushed. They weren't used to having their conversations interrupted by nationally acclaimed forensic geniuses, not to mention understood.

Grissom addressed the girls again. / _Let's continue with the introductions, shall we?_ /

Nodding, the girls quieted their hands and their minds, and looked to the others in the group as Funk laughed and Grissom started to introduce them.

"I supervise the graveyard shift at the Las Vegas crime lab. Ms. Catherine Willows here is my next in command, a CSI Level III with a specialty in blood pattern analysis. Standing next to her is our resident expert in Audio/Visual analysis-"

"Warrick Brown!" Terri squealed, her excitement palpable, making the others in the room laugh.

"Well," Grissom praised, "you certainly know your forensic scientists."

"Funk trained us well," Kati grinned maliciously.

"I can see that… As for the rest of my team, this is Nick Stokes and Sara Sidle. Nick specializes in Trace, and Sara in Material and Element analysis. Greg Sanders couldn't make it, he had to stay and help sort out the DNA backlog."

Suddenly, the door to Funk's trailer burst open and all heads turned to see who had barged their way in. Although teacher and students showed no recognition to the man in a suit and tie, the others seemed to know him as he was greeted warmly.

"Sorry, guys. Hit a little traffic on the causeway and then the woman at the front desk was a bitch about a visitor's badge."

Terri and Kati sighed and rolled their eyes. "Typical attendance…" they said simultaneously.

"This is one of our good friends on the force, Homicide Detective Jim Brass," Nick laughed. "Usually he's everywhere before we are."

"That's my job," Brass smiled.

"Well," Funk jumped in. "Gil, these are my two top students. This is Terri Gordon, and the sinister one over here is Kati Owen. They've both been interested in forensics for as long as I've known them."

"That's good to know," Warrick said, his bright green eyes shining. "Maybe you could help us with the seminar."

Awe, disbelief, and sheer joy crossed the girls' faces at the thought of it.

"Before we get into all that, I believe we were promised a tour!" Sara piped up, a smile spreading from her eyes to her lips. "Know any decent tour guides?"

----- ----- -----

Before long, Kati and Terri were being the best tour guides Satellite High School had ever seen, pointing out not only the different buildings, but making sure to include notes on the best teachers and classes on campus. By the time they were ready to start setting up for the seminar in the auditorium, they had seen the city of portable classrooms affectionately known by the students as "West Hell, the Trailer Park", the lunch patio, the English building, and they knew which restrooms to avoid and what not to eat in the cafeteria.

"You guys have got a lot going for you here," Catherine smiled, impressed. "This sounds like an amazing place to go to school."

The girls shrugged.

"It's alright," Terri said unenthusiastically. "You just have to know how things work."

"Yeah," Kati agreed. "Once you've figured out the system, it's pretty easy to cheat… and I mean that in the very _best_ way possible, of course," she added with a mischievous smile.

Sara laughed. "I know exactly what you mean. College was the same way, especially in the larger universities, and I went to Harvard, so I learned quick."

As they walked into the auditorium, the girls stopped in their tracks, amazed at the scene before them. The stage had been converted into a crime scene, with yellow tape blocking off the stairs on both stage entrances and a body lying in the middle of a pool of blood.

"This is awesome!" Terri cried. "It looks so real!"

Kati, however, stayed quiet, looking instead to the faces of the Vegas crew. They, too, were staring at the stage, but the looks in their eyes were those of true investigators, not guest speakers.

"I didn't know that you already had this set up," Terri continued, starting toward the stage.

She was stopped by Sara's hand on her shoulder. "We didn't."

As the implications of Sara's response sunk in, Terri's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my God!"

"Grab you kits," Grissom said suddenly, as Brass got out his cell phone. "I think our convocation just turned into a case."

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	2. An Unlikely Partnership

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**Chapter 2: An Unlikely Partnership**

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The group slowly walked towards the stage while Terri went to notify both the authorities and the school's principal. Kati stood by and watched, unsure of whether to feel excited at seeing the forensic processes up close or to be upset at who might be lying behind the yellow tape. Finally she decided to be useful. She walked up the closest CSI and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me." Nick Stokes turned around to face her.

"Yes," he stated, the question mark in his voice evident. He was intrigued that the girl was actually approaching the scene.

"I just wanted to know if you guys would like me to help… There's a chance that either Terri or myself knew whoever is up there," Kati stated in almost a whisper, as if to keep from disturbing the very air around the crime scene.

"All right," Nick replied, "but either you follow in my exact footsteps or I am going to have to carry you."

At that moment, Terri walked in with Mr. Bula and heard that statement. While Terri was making a few pointed gestures that caused Kati to blush and Dr. Grissom to chuckle, Nick waited for his answer. After Kati responded that she could walk, she followed Nick closely to the body. Unfortunately neither of them could identify the girl.

"Are you sure you don't know her?" Sara asked, looking from face to face.

"No disrespect, but there are 2100 students at this school… We can't be expected to know everyone," Terri said.

"Does anybody have any clue what 'E maye nimiki cardrano prime di me' means?" asked Catherine in her southern drawl, looking at a note that was placed near the body.

Both girls got very quite and still, only their fingers moved. Finally, after a seemingly heated argument, Kati faced the team and recited under lowered lashes,

"'I miei nemici cadranno prima de me.' It means, 'My enemy shall fall before me.' With the use of 'prima,' your bad guy is probably a bad girl."

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The rest of the morning was spent analyzing the scene. While Warrick and Catherine checked the perimeter of the auditorium and all the possible egresses, Nick and Grissom were working on the stage with the victim. Kati and Terri stood with Mr. Bula and Brass near the stage stairs, explaining everything that had happened that morning, and Sara could be seen wandering through the auditorium itself, looking for anything the killer could've left behind.

The camera clicked for what seemed like the millionth time as Nick photographed the body and the stage. He leaned down to get a closer look at the girl.

"Looks like blunt force trauma to the head," he said. "Scratch marks on the face and arms. Defense wounds on the hands… She fought back." Setting his camera down, he held out his hand to Grissom while he dug a scraping tool out of his vest pocket. "Will you hand me a bindle? We might be able to get some epithelials from under her nails."

But Grissom didn't answer. He was too busy looking at the note.

"Grissom?" Nick said, a little louder this time, keeping his eyes on the body.

A bindle appeared next to him, but when he reached to take it, it wasn't Grissom that was handing it to him. It was Terri.

"What are you doing?" he asked, a little shocked to see her standing in front of the orchestra pit wearing thin wiry-framed glasses and a pair of gloves.

"I'm handing you a bindle," she said frankly. "You said we could help."

"I thought you meant identifying the body… I mean, you're, what? Sixteen… seventeen?"

"Eighteen, actually. We're also the only ones that know the layout and resources of the school, have connections to certain places around town, _and_ know enough to help you run this investigation. Like it or not, you're going to need our help."

"She's right, Nick."

Nick looked over to see Grissom staring at the two of them. He turned to Terri.

"What do you think you can bring to this investigation?" he asked.

Her face turned serious. "I've lived here for four years, so I know my way around…"

"How well?" Nick challenged.

"Well enough to know that the nearest official crime lab is in Titusville, and that's a good hour away," she retorted.

"You weren't wearing glasses before," Grissom noticed. "Why do you have them on now?"

"I don't normally wear them, but I need them for distance. They also come in handy for seeing that Kati has been helping Sara in the back of the auditorium for the past fifteen minutes."

They looked behind her to see that she was right. Nick was boggled; she'd never even looked behind her…

"I also think I know how the killer might have gotten in and out of here without us noticing."

Impressed, Grissom stood and moved to the stairs on stage right, lifting the tape for her to cross underneath. "Lead the way," he said.

Climbing under the tape and up the stairs, she surprised them by walking away from the body toward the curtain that hung across the entire back of the stage. Pulling back the curtain on the side, she revealed a door.

"How'd you know that was there?" Nick asked.

"I know this part of the school better than most. I'm a choir member, so we use this door all the time to enter and exit the stage for concerts. Not to mention, I help out in the drama department for community service hours."

"What makes you think the killer used _that_ door?" asked Grissom. "There are plenty of other ways to get in and out of the building."

"Yes, but we came in the side entrance, stage left. That's rarely ever used, and I was given the only key and was with you all morning, so it _couldn't_ have been used. The front of the auditorium is locked, as are the side doors at stage right. The upstairs is only accessible from inside the building, not to mention visible from the stage, so we would've seen if they were still here. This door leads to the drama classrooms on the left, the dressing rooms directly behind the stage, and the choir and orchestra hallway on the right. There's a door on the other side of that hallway that leads out onto campus, and even though you can't open it from the outside, there's _always_ band and orchestra members on that hall putting their instruments in the lockers. It would've been easy to get someone to open the door and then go right back out again."

Just then, Catherine and Warrick came back in and made their way toward the stage.

"We didn't find anything in the lobby or around the front and sides of the auditorium," Catherine sighed. "It's like the killer just disappeared. I don't know where else to look."

Grissom grinned. "Lucky for us, we know someone who does."

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	3. Peaches and Prints

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Chapter 3: Peaches and Prints

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Meanwhile, Kati and Sara were on their way back towards the rest of the group.

"What was Terri signing to you before that made you blush?" Sara asked, intrigued.

"She was scolding me. She said that she couldn't leave me alone for five minutes without me attacking something with a Y-chromosome," Kati replied. The girls continued walking toward the group. When they were about halfway there, Kati continued. " So, what's up with you and Dr. G.?" she stated slyly and with a smile. She laughed as Sara sputtered an answer.

"Nothing… What makes you think something is going on?" Sara replied in a hurried tone. She looked at everything she could except the perceptive girl next to her and the man in question. As Kati was about to answer Brass walked back into the auditorium.

"Guys, I got a positive identification on the victim: one Michelle Willis." As he finished the girls' expressions became wide-eyed.

"I guess we lied," Terri started. "We _do _know her. What was it you called her, Kati?"

"An ego pill. She would follow anybody everywhere and try to boost their egos in hopes of becoming their best friend," Kati said. "She used to compliment me on everything."

"Including her ex-boyfriend… The one that she was almost in love with, right?" Terri stated questioningly.

"Well, talk about a Tijuana boob job," Kati stated sardonically at the figure. She looked up suddenly. "Wait… Does this make us suspects? Because we really want to help you guys as much as possible."

Everyone could see the apprehension in both the girls' eyes and the fear in Kati's voice. Grissom looked at Brass before answering in a jovial tone.

"I don't think so, Kati. According to Terri, your victim profile is more towards men, and I tend to agree." He chuckled at the looks Terri was throwing towards her friend and at Kati's obvious blush.

The sassy teenager threw that look right back, and then glanced back to Grissom. "But what about the note? That suggested female…"

Grissom nodded. "Yes, but blunt force trauma suggests anger and a lot of force. Combine that with the fact that the top of the girl's head is crushed instead of cracked, and that indicates a male attacker."

"The scratches on her arms and face suggest a catfight… There was another girl involved… But, don't worry your pretty head, Dr. G. You're safe from me, although there is something about a man that can shoot a gun and quote Shakespeare that makes a girl get the warm fuzzies."

Every one laughed at this and it was Grissom's turn to blush.

"Anything else you can tell us?" Brass asked, hoping to take a bit of the attention away from his friend and focus it back on the case.

Kati and Terri glanced at one another quickly before turning back to the team.

"She's a senior… well, she was," Kati stated.

"She was also in choir up until last year," Terri added.

"Why did she drop out?" asked Warrick.

Kati smirked at her friend. "Do you want to tell that story, or should I?"

Terri blushed and looked at her feet. "_I_ will." After a moment of collecting herself, she looked up at the team, obviously still embarrassed. "She used to hang out with my group of friends in choir. None of us really cared for her, but we felt bad for her, so we let her tag along-"

"Until prom," Kati cut in.

Terri flashed a warning look at her friend. "I can handle this, Kati." Turning back to the others, she began to speak again, a slight Irish accent invading her words. "She had gotten into a fight with our friend Erin just before prom, and Michelle put me in the middle of it. She had a habit of doing that… Anyways, she asked what I thought, so I told her, and she didn't like it. That weekend, at the prom, she found me with my boyfriend on the dance floor and pulled him aside… _in the middle of a dance!_ She told him that he'd better keep an eye on me, 'cause if she found me alone she'd kill me."

"Wait," Brass interrupted. "She threatened you?"

"Well, it would've been a threat if she'd done it to her face," Kati sneered.

"The only thing she said to my face was that she felt bad for me because I was going out with a gay guy," Terri explained, the accent becoming worse. "At that point, I was pissed. We traded words and a few gestures, but that was it. Anyways, some of my friends were nearby and overheard, and you can only guess how fast word spreads at a high school… By Monday, no one was speaking to her, and when we confronted her about it, she acted like nothing had happened. When that didn't work, she pitched a fit and begged us to take her back… but no one would. She finally figured out how much everyone hated her."

Suddenly, she grew quiet and her eyes dropped.

Kati looked to her friend and was sorry that she'd been so harsh with her. She took Terri's hand, and looked her in the eye. "Finish the story," she whispered.

Terri nodded and heaved a sigh. "We didn't talk anymore after that… but I should've listened to her."

"What do you mean?" Sara asked gently.

"Two months later, I broke up with Dan because I found out he really _was_ gay. I was just the last ditch effort to prove that he wasn't. I had to dump him over the phone…"

Catherine just shook her head. "Man," she said. "I thought _I_ had some bad relationships."

"I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her after that. School was out for the summer, and we ran in completely different circles this year. She changed her attitude, her look, and everything else about herself… That's why we didn't recognize her at first."

Grissom cocked his head and looked at the girl with curious eyes. "Did anyone else notice her accent change?"

She flushed again, looking at the floor. Instead, Kati spoke up.

"That only happens when she's embarrassed or nervous, and if it's _really_ bad then she can't control it. She's Irish by heritage, but she doesn't know anyone who speaks like that. We don't know where it comes from."

An uneasy silence filled the room while the team took in all that they had heard. Finally, Catherine broke the silence.

"Okay, well what do you say we follow whatever leads we have… Let's go through the door off the stage and see if we can find out where our killer went to." When Grissom nodded his assent, she took Terri by the hand and said, "Why don't you come with me, and I'll show you how to dust for prints?"

A smile crossed the girl's face. "I'm not 5, and I won't be treated as such, but I accept your offer."

Catherine laughed. "What can I say? I'm a mother."

When they started towards the stage, Kati cleared her throat. "When are you going to start interviewing students? I hate to state the obvious, but you're going to have to start sooner or later, and there are 2100 students enrolled this year at Satellite."

"That's my next task," Brass said, obviously not excited about interviewing 2100 separate students. "Any advice?"

Kati smirked. "Actually it shouldn't be too bad… Today was a senior skip day. Plus, it's a nice day, and since we're right across the street from the beach, it's not unusual for a lot of people to skip classes to go surfing. It might not be a bad idea to check the beaches and ask if anyone's seen anything suspicious. Our killer may have fled in that direction."

He sighed. "Well, that makes things a little easier…"

"Yeah… especially when you consider that that only leaves about 1700 students to interview."

Warrick and Sara snickered at Kati's smartass response.

"Damn… I like her," Warrick laughed.

"Yeah," said Brass, a sarcastic smile lighting his face as he turned to leave the auditorium. "She's a peach."

----- ----- -----

Half an hour later, Kati and Nick were outside the door at the end of the band and orchestra hallway, trying to determine which way their killer had gone. Terri and Catherine had confirmed the hallway as the point of egress, finding some blood drops with directionality leading toward the door. Kati was now standing outside with Nick, watching him dust for prints on the actual door, seeing as how it didn't have a handle. Directly behind him, she was watching his every move, taking in everything.

Suddenly he stopped and slowly turned toward her. After a moment, he smiled and shook his head, asking, "Would you like to try?"

Her face lit up like a candle in the darkness. Taking the duster from his hand, she leaned in toward the door and began twirling it nimbly in her fingers, soon revealing a large handprint. A wide grin spreading from her eyes to her lips, she held her hand out for a tape lift.

"Very nice," he said, clearly impressed. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

Her smile turned from one of delight to one of guilt. "My parents got me a fingerprinting kit for Christmas…" she admitted. "Forensics isn't just a hobby for me. I want to study to become a forensic anthropologist."

He handed her a tape lift from his kit. "Keep studying. You might just get there one day."

Putting his hands over hers, he helped her lift the print in a clean take, before looking in the long rectangular window at Catherine and Terri working patiently with a camera and print powder.

Kati notice his gaze and cleared her throat. "You know, I keep telling Terri that she should join me."

"Yeah, what's up with her? She's got a bit of an attitude, doesn't she?"

Kati straightened. "She's my best friend and she's Irish. It makes sense that she's got a lot of pride... Just don't bruise it, and you'll be fine. Anyways... she wants to study religion."

Nick turned, his brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Don't get me wrong… She loves forensics. It's like solving puzzles for her. But if there's one thing she'll ever protect herself from, it's herself."

His eyes begged for further explanation.

Kati sighed. "I'm not going to say that she's _extremely_ religious, but Terri has a very deep faith. She was always afraid that in a world where you have to prove everything, she would begin to question the one thing that keeps her going, and she can't do that to herself….

"Me, on the other hand… I never believed much in God," she continued. "I mean, I know He's there, sometimes it's hard to believe that He's all 'omni-benevolent.'"

"Really?" Nick asked, intrigued. "How so?"

She set the lifted print aside and continued dusting. "It's hard to believe that He's really interested in everything that goes on down here when you watch a kid get knifed and gutted in the middle of a school function."

The lack of emotion in her voice momentarily reminded Nick of Grissom. He looked at her in silence for a moment, but as soon as he began to speak, she anticipated his question.

"That didn't happen here. That was in Arizona. I moved here two years ago… But you get used to seeing that kinda thing, right?"

"No," he told her. "You'll never get used to it, and you'll never justify it. But you'll learn to deal with it… to focus on the details, not the big picture. God will show up again… in the little things, the things that count."

After a moment of awkward silence, she held out her hand for another tape lift. When she lifted it expertly and handed it back to him, he set it with the other and picked up another duster out of his kit, joining her at the door and admiring the bond of fellowship that had formed among the prints and powders.

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	4. Plans For a Prolonged Stay

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**Chapter 4: Plans For a Prolonged Stay**

**----- ----- -----**

Hours later, as the school bells rang again, the girls realized that their entire day had just passed them by. Noticing this, they reluctantly accepted that they would not be helping out their newfound friends tomorrow, unless they could get out of class. Kati mentioned this to Grissom and he thought about it.

"I will talk to your principal tomorrow and see about borrowing you two for our investigation," Grissom said as the girl's eyes lit up in excitement. All of a sudden, Kati jumped from her seat and ran towards the portables. Everyone looked slightly puzzled as she slowly walked back about five minutes later.

"What was that all about?" Terri asked her, slightly confused.

"Had to collect from Funk... Raiders won last night's football game against the Longhorns," Kati gloated. Suddenly, the team groaned, knowing Nick wasn't about to let his alma mater take that kind of lip.

----- ----- -----

During their History class the next day, Kati and Terri were pleasantly surprised to see both Warrick and Nick walk into the class room and say that they we being " stolen" to be used in the service of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. As the girls were walking out to the rest of the group, Kati's head popped up.

"How are you guys coping without a lab? The nearest one is in Titusville," she asked intrigued.

"Actually, we were discussing what to do about that, as well as our extended stay," Grissom countered.

Kati got a huge smile on her face. "I have the perfect place for you guys," she stated, looking mischievously at Terri. "My house."

Terri's eyes grew round as saucers. She turned to Kati as her fingers began to fly.

_/ What are you thinking! Need I remind you that your parents are out of town... /_

_/ That's what makes it so perfect. No one's home but me. /_

_/ Correction: You and me. Need I also remind you that your mother asked me to make sure you didn't burn the house down... /_

_/ Terri, I'm not going to burn the house down… I'm just inviting the entire Las Vegas Crime Crew into my home for some hospitality and home cooking. That's not a crime. /_

A moment later, Grissom entered their conversation.

Sara looked to the others. "I hate it when they do that."

Warrick chuckled. "Actually, I think it's kinda cute…"

_/ Kati, I think it's wonderful that you want to invite us into your home, but Terri's right. If your family's not there, then we don't belong. /_

Terri smiled as her opinion was vindicated, but her friend persisted.

_/ If my family was there, you wouldn't fit in the house/_ Kati stated bluntly. / _You don't understand. I have two sisters. With all of them gone, Terri and I can stay in the living room, you and Sara can take mine, Catherine and Warrick can go in my parent's room, Nick in Nichole's and Brass in Amanda's. It's perfect. /_

"Hey, Grissom!" Nick interrupted. "Can you clue us in?"

Their boss turned and gave them the gist of the conversation.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Sara cried, her hands flying up as if in surrender. "You want me to room with Grissom? Isn't there another option?"

"Well, what would you suggest?" Kati asked. "Terri's house is full, and your department is NOT going to pay for you to stay in the hotel."

"What about the department here?" asked Warrick, not sure how Tina would react if he had to share a room with Catherine.

"Are you _joking_?" Terri said incredulously. "Have you not noticed that we're on the edge of the Air Force base? This town gets all its money from the base. There's no way in hell the Satellite Beach police are going to do that! And don't even _think_ about asking the base… The only thing they're going to tell you is that we're in the middle of a war, which means _nobody_ gets on base property without clearance."

Catherine sighed, and looked at Grissom. "Well, O Wise and Fearless Leader, unless you can think of something else, I think we'll have to accept the offer."

In some last ditch effort to come up with an idea, he asked, "Well, how are we going to get there? We had to use taxis to get to the school from our hotel."

Kati grinned. "No problem. Terri and I both drive to school. We can take three of you in each car… You can even plug in your little police lights if you want."

Nick laughed. "Sounds like a plan to me. Grissom?"

He sighed. "Alright."

"YES!"

Terri looked at her friend's elated expression and smiled. "What have you gotten us into, Kati?"

----- ----- -----

An hour later, Brass was interviewing students, having taken over the back half of the guidance building. Grissom sat beside him, watching the reactions of the students as they were asked where they were yesterday morning. Many didn't like being considered suspects in Michelle's murder, but they cooperated. As Terri and Kati had said, she wasn't well liked; a fact that was confirmed more than once as the interviews progressed.

Catherine, Nick and Kati were searching for anything that might lead them to the killer while Sara, Warrick, and Terri were calling the lab in Titusville in hopes of cooperation. Grissom worried about his team, but even more than that, he was worried about the girls. This was no ordinary crime scene, no ordinary case, and certainly no ordinary day in the life. What was going to happen when this was all over?

Suddenly, his phone rang. Excusing himself from their makeshift interrogation room, he flipped the phone open.

"Grissom," he answered.

"Griss, it's Terri. I think I found something you might want to take a look at."

"How'd you get this number?"

"Sara gave it to me. Look, come meet us over in the English building bathroom."

"Okay… which building is that again?"

She sighed. "Where are you?"

He was amused by the hint of a smile in her voice. "The guidance building."

"Step outside and look for me. I should be straight ahead of you." With that, she hung up.

Putting his phone back on his hip clip, he stepped outside into the sticky Florida heat. Sure enough, she was straight ahead leaning against the wall in the shade of the balcony overhang. She looked professional in her pin-stripped black pants and her hair pinned back with a clip, but her lacy turquoise tank top gave the outfit the perfect touch, bringing out her hazel-green eyes.

As he approached, she stood straight and directed him to follow her into the girl's restroom, which had now been taped off. Bending beneath the tape, Grissom stepped inside and around the corner to see Sara and Warrick printing every available surface in the room while Terri went to the corner and picked up a plastic evidence bag.

"I came in to go to the bathroom and found this in one of the toilets. It may be our murder weapon."

Taking the bag from her, he looked at the object inside: a small black revolver.

"Terri, our victim wasn't shot. What makes you think that this is our murder weapon?"

"First of all, I saw some red stain on the butt of the gun, so I called Sara in and asked to borrow her kit. I found a swab, the alcohol, phenolphthalein and the hydrogen peroxide for a Kastle-Meyer test, and it confirmed that it was blood. Second of all, I printed it and found palm and fingerprints on the business end. Third of all, it's not a real gun. It's a prop from the drama room… Satellite ownership sticker and all."

Impressed, Grissom looked over the "revolver" again. Seeing the stain she'd mentioned and traces of the bright green print powder, he smiled.

"You know, usually we'd just use superglue…"

She smirked. "I used what I knew."

His smile grew wider as the others in the room snickered at her response. He patted her on the shoulder. "Good work."

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* * *

**A/N:** _OK, we finally got up our first few chapters. Thank you so much for the reviews... They've meant so much to us. It's been interesting putting this story together, with all the memories attached. Satellite was good to us. However, let us be clear that this story is based on real people and places from our past, not real events. THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY! No one we know was ever murdered at Sattelite. (The bit about the flamingoes outside our history teacher's trailer was real, though:-D )  
**alwayswrite05: **Thanks for the tips. This account is new, so we still had a few things to set up. Also, thank you for your kind words about our friends. It was so hard to graduate wihout Will and Allie, but we know that things are going to be good... They'll always live in our memories.  
**Lily of the Shadow: **Thanks so much for your words of encouragement! Don't worry about your so-called "immature" comments... We'll apreciate them all the same. It just means so much to even get a comment on this story. And may we say that we thoroughly enjoyed reading your CSI: story... you have a talent. Keep it up!_


	5. Sleeping Arrangements

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**Chapter 5: Sleeping Arrangements**

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Later that evening, the group had returned to what Kati jokingly termed "The Zoo", in reference to the amount of people and animals in residence. While the rest of the team was unpacking and making themselves comfortable, Kati was in the kitchen gathering the necessary ingredients for a home-cooked Italian meal. Grissom sat next to Catherine and Warrick looking over photos from the crime scene when Nick and Brass came in.

"What are you making?" Nick inquired, looking over Kati's head.

"Food," she replied, rolling the freshly made pasta through her fingers in order to help them gain shape.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Nick," Terri warned. "Kati is liable to elbow you, she hates feeling short." All of the others chuckled as Kati glared and became slightly aggressive in her movements.

A few hours later, while the team was eating the gnocchi, Kati began to discuss sleeping arrangements.

"I assume that you guys have been through the rooms already and have supposedly chosen your rooms. First things first, _I_ will be sleeping in my room. It is _my_ room, it has a coffee machine, and I am Satan without coffee in the morning. If you don't believe me, ask Terri. Second, the bed is very temperamental; it loves me and hates to be parted from me. It will hurt any one who tries to use it if I am not there to soothe the savage beast. By and by, my friends sleep over all the time so I don't care who joins me, but be warned: the dogs sleep there, too."

At the last statement, Nick's eyes lit up at the idea of spending more time with the speed bump behemoths that he had been spoiling.

"I call that one," Nick called out, not even stopping the game he was playing with Kati's larger dog.

"Ok, Dr. G., you get the master bed room. It has the most space and you will probably need it." Kati continued.

Terri piped up soon after. "I am willing to share a room with Warrick if he is too uncomfortable to stay with Catherine or Sara." She looked at the group and Sara nodded.

"Well I know that Brass doesn't snore so he is a safe bet in my book," Catherine decided out loud.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cath," he said sarcastically.

"I guess that leaves Sara with Grissom," Kati replied with a triumphant smile that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the group.

After the kitchen had been cleaned, Kati came out of her room in her Texas Tech pajamas: a pair of short shorts and a tight tank top with the college's mascot on it. Terri groaned, knowing that this would probably cause an argument from the other Texan in the room.

"How do you know about Texas Tech?" Nick asked from the floor with the rest of the science geeks.

"I lived in Texas before Arizona. My mom got one of her teaching degrees there." Turning to the rest of the group, she smiled. "I'm going to my room now… Anyone feel like a Riddick marathon?"

Catherine's head popped up. "Do you own Fast and the Furious?" she asked, slightly excited.

"Yeah, of course! Want to watch that instead?"

The answer was clear when Catherine popped up and left to Kati's room to the sounds of, "He is soooo hot."

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"Help! No, stop… Why can't I move?"

The noises woke Nick. Looking over, he noticed that Kati was tossing and turning, her hair stuck to her face. Slowly to keep from startling her, he moved over her to try and hold her still and wake her up. Just then, she jumped up, her eyes wild and moving everywhere. Not even noticing Nick sitting nest to her, she left. Out in the living room, Terri was sitting down on the couch, and Grissom and Warrick were in the kitchen. Nick soon joined them. The men watched the girls, their hands flying.

"Hey, what are you guys doing up?" Grissom asked, addressing his teammates.

"Girls' nightmares woke us up," Warrick said, turning from his conversation with Nick.

"Hey Griss, what are the girls saying?" Nick asked, confused.

"Something about a stalker… a nightmare about a man climbing in through a window, and Terri is signing about something that happened awhile back. For more, you need to ask them," Grissom said, finishing his glass of water and watching the girls head back to their respective rooms. Nick walked back in to Kati's room and looked at her while she stared at her windows.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked in a sleepy drawl.

Her eyes never left the windows. She hesitated before replying, "When I was back in Arizona, there was this guy, met me on a side walk. Started to follow me around, so I filed a restraining order… I woke up one night, and he was climbing in through the window. I screamed, he was caught. I've been having recurring nightmares about that night ever since, except in these I never scream… I can't." She looked over towards him and met his gaze. "Sorry I woke you up."

"That's why you weren't upset about seeing that kid... You've experienced that side of life before," he said, saddened slightly. Then he had an idea.

"Come on," he said, patting the bed next to him.

"When I was little, my mom used to tell me stories to help me sleep…"

And that was how she woke up the next morning: her head on Stokes' chest, her hand curled in his shirts as if it were a life raft.

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When Warrick awoke the next morning, he found himself in much the same position: Terri curled up beside him, her face red from crying, and his arm around her for a sense of protection.

He lay there for a few moments, remembering their conversation from the night before. She'd spoken not of a stalker, but of an abusive boyfriend a few years ago, and how he'd controlled her life for a year and a half. She spoke of the beatings and the fights… the escape attempts… He couldn't imagine how afraid she must have been, but he'd gotten a glimpse from the fear in her eyes as she'd told the story, her watery orbs changing color from their typical hazel to a deep green. She'd trembled as she lay next to him, the images in her mind refusing to disappear, and even with his arm around her, it had taken a considerable amount of time for her to fall back asleep.

Now, he looked at the clock beside the bed. It was nearly seven. The early light of dawn fluttered in the thin slats of the blinds as the sun rose. Suddenly, she began to stir. For a moment, she nestled in a bit closer to his warmth and sighed in contentment. But then she saw the clock. Groaning, she sat up.

"Good morning, sunshine," he teased.

She turned, and flushed in embarrassment, suddenly remembering the events from last night. She began to apologize, but he held up a hand.

"Don't worry about it. How are you feeling?"

She hugged her knees up to her chest. "I'm okay," she lied.

He ignored her shyness and put a hand on her cheek, causing her to look at him with sad eyes. "It'll be alright, kiddo," he said in a soothing voice. "You deserve better than that guy, and one day you'll get it." He knocked at her chin playfully.

She smiled a bit and nodded. "I should go wake the others," she said, changing the subject and sliding gracefully out of Nichole's double bed. She nodded toward the glass sliding door in the living room as she put on a thin silk robe over her skimpy Tinkerbell PJs. "If you want to see a great Florida sunrise, head out to the back porch. You can watch it come up over the lake."

He nodded as she left and headed toward Kati's room. Climbing out of bed, he took her advice and headed to the back porch, only to find Grissom already there.

"You don't sleep, do you?" he asked, startling his boss as he looked up from the morning paper. "Let me guess… You've already found the crossword."

Grissom lowered the paper for Warrick to see. It was the front page.

"Just getting a taste of community life," he said matter-of-factly.

Warrick looked down at the table to see that the crossword had already been done. "Typical," he muttered. Chuckling, he looked out over the lake and watched a gator slide over the water's surface.

"Damn," he stated. "That thing must be eight feet long!"

They heard a small laugh come from the glass sliding door, and turned to see Kati standing there.

"You know you're from Florida when you're more afraid of the freaks that live down the street than you are the gators," she quipped.

"You look like you're feeling better this morning," Grissom said lightly.

"Looks can be deceiving," she reminded him. "Anyways, I came out here to see what you wanted for breakfast. Terri makes awesome French toast."

They nodded in agreement.

"That sounds great," Warrick said, his stomach rumbling in agreement.

"Good. She said she'd start on that as soon as she woke the others."

As if on cue, Sara and Catherine walked out to the porch and slouched into chairs. Sara became mesmerized by the pinks and oranges of the sunrise and its reflections on the lake, but Catherine held her hand to her temple as she tried to ignore the throbbing headache.

"Remember when I said that Brass didn't snore? … I was wrong."

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End file.
